As a shock to nearly everyone, a pilot episode for Winter Dragon, a potential TV series based on the epic Wheel Of Time fantasy novels by the late Robert Jordan, aired on FXX in the early morning hours today and is now online (watch it here below).

With no promotions or warnings, viewers who caught the 30-minute pilot on FXX in the middle of the night were surprised that such a series existed and that it was debuting, including Robert Jordan’s Estate, which made a statement that the project was done without their knowledge or involvement.

It turns out, the pilot, which starred Billy Zane, is not an FXX series. It aired on the network in a paid spot — kind of like the way an infomerical does — purchased by Red Eagle Entertainment, the pilot’s producers who needed to get it on the air.